Through her depiction of Jack Boughton’s return home, Marilynne Robinson reimagines the parable of the prodigal son, a significant story in the New Testament about redemption and the power of forgiveness. Jack seeks this forgiveness after 20 years away as he attempts to reconcile with his father and start a new life in Gilead. Robinson transforms the biblical parable of forgiveness into a nuanced exploration of the novel’s central question of whether forgiveness is enough.

While Reverend Boughton initially welcomes his son with open arms, Glory struggles to overcome the resentment she has built over 20 years. Robinson positions Glory as the older brother figure of the original parable who begrudges his prodigal brother who profits from their father’s generosity. In the original parable, the father teaches the older son a lesson about forgiveness and celebrates the return of the son. In Robinson’s version, this parallel storyline is short-lived. At first, Glory relies on her father’s lessons on forgiveness and attempts to follow her father’s advice to “forgive in order to understand” (45). However, Reverend Boughton’s forgiveness of Jack’s past indiscretions is not strong enough to change Jack’s ways. He struggles not to drink throughout his time in Gilead and relies on his sister Glory and their newfound connection to navigate his battle for sobriety.